The Road to Downsizing

January 29, 2015

Downsizing – Part 1

My husband and I have been talking about some life changes for about 6 months and even as I am typing it I wonder if our thoughts will become a reality.

We’ve lived in Indianapolis for over 12 years and have lived in 4 houses in that time one bigger than the next. We have worked super hard to get to where we’re at in our lives and one of the things we have spent a lot of time on is our house. I don’t think either of us are ready to stop working hard anytime soon but we are both tired of working so hard on our house.

(Southern Living)

A little history for some of you that may not know but this is my second marriage, my husband Drew has 2 daughters from his first marriage and I have Sloan. Together we have Cooper. His girls and Sloan are almost done with high school and headed to college.

My husband works ALOT and also travels ALOT! Some of my girlfriends are like I’d love if my husband traveled and honestly 2-3 days is sorta nice, you know getting to eat breakfast for dinner and not having to fight for the remote but 10 days at a time is just too long!

(Adorable Home)

Sloan will be done with school in 2016 which left me thinking how nice it would be for Cooper and I to travel a little more with Drew and than I thought why would we even stay in Indianapolis? Don’t get me wrong I love Indianapolis but I want simple and our life right now is not simple. Sloan goes to a private catholic school that is 25 minutes away and I have always driven her back and forth to school for 11 years. I’m not too excited about doing that all over again with Cooper. Our house is BIG, I’m not going to lie there are rooms in our house that I haven’t been in for months except to do a quick cleaning. Speaking of cleaning…it’s all I ever do. Ok I maybe exaggerating but if I’m not working or taking care of the kids I’m cleaning more than I’m doing fun things and let’s face it I’m not getting any younger and I just want to have more free time. I don’t feel the need to be busy for the sake of being busy anymore or trying to prove to others how busy I am. The best part of being in your 40’s you honestly just stop caring so much!

(Stephanie Lynn)

If things go as planned we are buying/building a SMALL lake house (under 700 feet) in Wisconsin. I’m not crazy about the thought of colder winters and more snow but I can get on board with living on a lake and Wisconsin has LOTS of lakes. I can also get on board with less to clean, less to buy and less to do in general.

I think a lot of our friends and family at first thought we were a little crazy. I think the dream is as you get older you should keep moving up, bigger, nicer, better and trading in a beautiful big house for a super small cottage was in their mind a step back.

We have 3 girls to get through college at one time and going into debt is not an option for us. Early on in our marriage we decided not to use credit cards and not to live above our means. We would never even had the house we do now if it wasn’t for the market crash 5 years ago.

I’m looking forward to Drew working at the office during the day and coming home in the evening, I’m looking forward to less time cleaning and purchasing items for the home that are my first choice and are more meaningful but most important I’m looking forward to more time. More time with my husband, more time to work (I love my job) more time to read, listen to music, visit with Sloan, and lots more playtime with Cooper!

I have so many thoughts on downsizing and obviously it’s still a while off but I hope you will follow us along on the journey! Have you ever thought about starting over? Have you ever downsized or at least thought about it?

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I have been thinking a lot about downsizing too since moving into our new home. I can relate to what you are saying. The cleaning has become quite a chore that I no longer feel inspired to do. I have rooms that I barely visit. I don’t spend any time on my craft hobbies anymore. I used to think we needed the extra room for entertaining and for when family came to visit. I think we can still do this just fine and more intimately in a smaller home.

amen!!!! yes- my kids are still young and we need the space the guest room but i think once they are older i will want to downsize- i already crave more simplicity, and our move to the country has helped that for sure.